Solid First Steps....

This is change we can believe in.... "Obama Transition Announces Rules for Lobbyists in Transition" (change.com)

On Tuesday Barack Obama Transition Co-Chair John Podesta announced the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.

The rules include the policy that if someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.

Even after the transition.... if someone becomes a lobbyist they are prohibited from lobbying the administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.

And, a gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution said of Obama's lobbyist rules, "The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal. They will prevent some honorable people with rich experience from serving in the transition. That is a real cost but it is more than balanced by the strong signal sent by the President-elect. He aspires to attract to government able individuals whose highest priority is to serve the public interest. This is a very constructive step in that direction."

As part of the transition, "Agency Reviews Start Monday." (WaPo) Monday Obama transition team members will start arriving at offices to start reviewing over 100 departments, agencies and commissions of the United States according to Podesta.

The former White House chief of staff said the agency review teams "will ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete their confirmation process, lead their departments and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they're sworn in.”

In a demonstration of unprecedented transition transparency, Podesta said his team will publicly release the names of every person on the agency review teams and those that will enter the agencies for review.

This, fellow Americans, is what it means to "hit the ground running" next January 20. Aren't you feeling better by the moment....

Advice for McFlighty

What's a candidate to do? As John McCain watches his favorables plummet while Barack Obama's rise, McFlighty is in desperate need of some steadying advice. The Washington Post asks five experienced politicos "What Could Change the Election."

John Podesta, Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, thinks McCain's only hope is to give the electorate less McCain, to.... "change the dynamics of this race, but his erratic responses to the economic crisis aren't the way to do it. He could consider announcing that, if elected, he would pledge to serve only one term." But, wouldn't that position Bush's-dimmer-twin Palin as the GOP candidate in 2012?..... (hair-on-fire alert) aaaaaagh!

Newt Gingrich, former GOP speaker of the House and OK-for-me-but-impeach-Clinton womanizer and legislative bomb-thrower, true to form thinks head-on attack is McCain's best bet... "McCain has to focus on the Reid-Pelosi-Obama machine and the threats they pose to most Americans." Get a grip, Newt, no one wants more "Axis of Evil" scare-tactics.

Mary Beth Cahill, John Kerry's outmaneuvered and Swiftboated 2004 presidential campaign manager, advises McCain to "regain his footing as an independent-minded leader capable of appealing to independents".... but she can't help adding that's "unlikely to happen." Well, she should know all about grabbing defeat from the jaws of.... oh, never mind.

Peter J. Wallison, (who?) counsel to Ronald Reagan (oh), just can't fast-forward to the 21st century with his advice to McCain... "Republicans have been discouraged and frustrated" by McCain's "apparent refusal to challenge Obama on two obvious points." Those points? What else but "deregulation" and that moth-eaten GOP mantra "tax cuts." Wallison.... how gigantic is that trickle-down mortgage on Reagan's "shining city on a hill"?

Stuart Eizenstat, chief domestic policy advisor in the Carter White House, and senior positions in the Clinton administration, thinks a winning strategy would be a memorable debate line like... "Are you better off today than you were two years ago?"... or eight years ago? This helps McCain how?

Tonight's debate is important, but a game changer? Only if McCain flashes his old grin and announces he was only kidding.... Mitt Romney is really his VP pick.